How+does+students'+language+development+affect+their+learning?

How does students’ language development affect their learning?
At some level- the acquisition of language skills is the prerequisite of all other learning. Without the skills to interpret and comprehend information that is delivered verbally and textually- there is little actual learning that can take place. There is certainly a visual element to learning, a physical element, and other cognitive needs that are required to truly learn; however; it is language that is most essential to the deeper understanding of abstract concepts. As Saussure pointed out nearly a hundred years ago: “//Psychologically our thought- apart from its expression in words- is only a shapeless and indistinct mass. Philosophers and linguists have always agreed in recognizing that without the help of signs we would be unable to make a clear-cut, consistent distinction between two ideas. Without language, thought is a vague, uncharted nebula. There are no pre-existing ideas, and nothing is distinct before the appearance of language.//” (Saussure, 153)

I imagine that Saussure might argue that without words or symbols, learning is a matter of knowing not to stick one’s hand in the fire because it hurts, and little else. To address deeper needs we need more complex systems of thought, language is that medium. So, from an even more psychological point of view- language is the scaffolding that provides the platform on which all understanding takes place:

“//...without an appropriate schema, trying to understand a story, textbook or classroom lesson is a very slow, difficult process, something like finding your way through a new town without a map.//” (Woolfolk, 249)

A student’s ability to decode language becomes the very system by which he or she learns. We have seen how students who come to the classroom with insufficient language skills are left behind when they can not keep up with the lessons. Generally, this has nothing to do with their cognitive capacity, but rather the method through which the material is both delivered and received. If a student can’t understand a text, it is not to say that he or she can’t understand the concept- but that rather they have no means with which to interact with it. This mistake, however, I fear is often made- that students are dismissed and labeled incapable simply because not even care and attention has been paid to ensuring their grasp of the fundamental skills of language acquisition.

The implication then, of course, is that a great deal of responsibility falls on the teacher of language arts- we are responsible to not only teach our own subject; but also to provide the means with which they will interact with all the other information they will encounter in their entire educational career.